Fresh off the back of a debut season in England where he took the Premier League by storm, Fernando Torres was one of the favourites in all the safe sportsbooks to be top scorer at Euro 2008. That honour fell to his strike partner David Villa, however it was Torres that got the winning goal in the final, securing his country a first major title in 44 years.
The move starts with Spain in possession around the half-way line and Germany dropped back into a defensive shape.
Joan Capdevila passes the ball inside to the open Marcos Senna and Xavi Hernandez pushes forward into space between the lines. Germany’s midfield makes neither any attempt to put Senna under pressure on the ball or to block off the open pass into Xavi behind them – easily cut out if Torsten Frings moves just a metre or two to his left.
Unsurprisingly, Senna can pick out a simple pass into the feet of Xavi. The Barcelona man is already on the turn as he receives the ball, ready to spin and play a through ball to the forwards before Thomas Hitzlsperger can get close to him.
Torres is stood offside while this is going on, meaning he isn’t in a position to challenge for a ball over the top but also is in a difficult spot for the German defenders to keep track of him. As Xavi receives the ball he drops back onside and as the ball leaves the midfielder’s foot Torres is both onside and leaning forward, ready to sprint onto the pass.
Torres chases after the ball ahead of Christoph Metzelder, but, stretching to try and control the pass, he ends up slowing himself down and Philipp Lahm gets between him and the ball.
Determined to win it though, Torres keeps chasing the ball, trying to get around Lahm on the outside. Using his pace and strength, Torres manages to force his way around Lahm, getting to the ball before Jens Lehmann to score Spain’s winning goal.
No responses yet